Flyers win to take 3-0 series lead on Penguins

The Penguins and the Flyers fight during the first period. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

PHILADELPHIA -- Bust out the brooms. The Philadelphia Flyers are going for a sweep.

Danny Briere, Matt Read and Max Talbot scored two goals apiece and the Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 8-4 Sunday to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference playoff series.

The Flyers will try to close out their in-state rival on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Only three teams in NHL history have overcome 3-0 deficits to win a playoff series, including the Flyers against Boston in 2010.

A high-scoring first-round series turned downright feisty in Game 3 with three players getting ejected in the first period and superstars Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux dropping the gloves.

The chippy play escalated after Philadelphia took a 3-1 lead in the first period. Crosby seemed to be the instigator. He irritated the Flyers by taking a couple whacks at goalie Ilya Bryzgalov's glove after a whistle.

Giroux exchanged words with Crosby, who further exacerbated the situation by knocking Jake Voracek's glove away when he bent down to pick it up off the ice. Kimmo Timonen had a word for Crosby, who pushed him. Giroux jumped in to take on Crosby. Meanwhile, Timonen squared off with Kris Letang. Timonen and Letang received game misconduct penalties.

It got even nastier a few minutes later when Philadelphia's Brayden Schenn leveled Paul Martin with a hard hit along the boards. Aaron Asham skated over and crosschecked Schenn in the throat area and then punched him when he fell to the ice. For that, Asham received a match penalty.

When they weren't pushing each other around, they were scoring at will.

Giroux and Wayne Simmonds had the other goals for Philadelphia. Bryzgalov made 30 saves.

Jordan Staal and James Neal each had two goals for the Penguins, who finally pulled goalie Marc-Andre Fleury after two periods and 17 goals allowed in eight periods.

The Flyers have outscored Pittsburgh 20-12 in three games.

The Flyers rallied from 2-0 deficits to win the first two games at Pittsburgh. They had to come back again to win this one, but it was only 1-0.

Staal fired a slap shot off Bryzgalov's left shoulder and in 3:52 into the game.

With a power-play opportunity a few minutes later, the Penguins had a chance to take another 2-0 lead.

But Talbot scored Philadelphia's third shorthanded goal of the series to tie it at 1. He slipped a rebound past Fleury, who turned and flailed hopelessly after the puck trickled behind him.

A mini-brawl broke out immediately after the goal. But that was just a prelude to more fighting later in the period.

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, who has become a master at calling time-outs, asked for one when his team got a two-man advantage. It worked as Briere took a perfect crossing feed from Scott Hartnell and lifted a shot into an open net to put Philadelphia up 2-1.

Briere did it again just 3:36 later, scoring his fourth goal of the series. Briere drove down the center lane on a 3-on-2 break, and one-timed a pass from Simmonds past Fleury for a 3-1 lead.

Neal and Read traded goals in a 23-second span and the Flyers led 4-2 after the first period.

The Penguins cut it 4-3 when Neal scored a power-play goal midway through the second. He blew a shot from the slot by Bryzgalov.

But Read answered Neal again. Jaromir Jagr set it up with a crisp pass across the ice to Read, who one-timed a shot by Fleury on the power play.

Just 82 seconds later, Staal got the Penguins within one goal again.

The Flyers regained a two-goal advantage when Simmonds beat Fleury with a backhander on a breakaway with 45.8 seconds left in the period to make it 6-4.

Brent Johnson replaced Fleury at the start of the third period. Giroux greeted him with a goal to notch the Gordie Howe hat trick -- a fight, an assist and a goal.

Jagr set that one up with an amazing individual play, fighting off a defender and making a one-handed pass to Giroux, who blasted a shot past Johnson.

It was quiet for a while until Neal flattened Sean Couturier with a hard check with 5:20 left in the game. Neal appeared to leave his feet to lay out Couturier, who needed help off the ice.

Neal then went after Giroux with a hard hit to the head. That started another melee.

Notes: The Flyers are 11-7 in Game 3 of the 18 series they've led 2-0. ... The Flyers have led a playoff series 3-0 only 11 times in their history out of 95 total series. They've never blown a 3-0 lead. ... Pittsburgh's Dan Bylsma coached in his 47th playoff game, passing Eddie Johnston for most postseason games in franchise history. ... The Flyers lost the first two games in each of their three previous playoff series against the Penguins (2000, 2008, 2009). ... Briere has seven career multi-goal playoff games.